I am delighted to announce Professor John Reisel of the Mechanical Engineering Department in the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) will serve as UWM’s new Secretary of the University, effective August 2021. John will replace Distinguished Professor of Anthropology Trudy Turner who is retiring this July.

The Secretary of the University facilitates, supports and assists the effective functioning of shared governance for the faculty, academic staff and university staff, serves as a campus expert on policies and procedures, facilitates governance elections, leads the organization of commencement ceremonies, coordinates senior academic and administrative leadership searches and performs other duties.

John, who has worked at UWM since 1994, brings extensive and valuable experience to this role. He served on the University Committee for 7 years, including two as chair during which he notably led the development of UWM’s Post-Tenure Review Policy. John has led UWM’s Faculty Mentoring program for over 3 years and served continuously as the Secretary of the CEAS faculty since 2002.

I extend my thanks to Distinguished Professor of Political Science and University Committee Chair Kathy Dolan and Chief of Staff Sue Weslow for co-leading an effective search team and to the committee members for their service.

Please join me in congratulating John on his new appointment.

Interim Leadership of University Relations and Communications

I am pleased to announce Director of External Relations Keri Duce and Senior Director of Integrated Marketing & Communications Michelle Johnson will provide interim co-leadership to University Relations & Communications (URC) following Vice Chancellor Tom Luljak’s retirement in June. UWM will launch a national search for permanent URC leadership later this year.

Michelle will oversee URC units of Integrated Marketing & Communications, Web & Mobile/App Brewery and Print & Copy, while Keri will oversee URC units of External Relations/Events and Government Relations. Both will report to me and serve as members of the Chancellor’s Cabinet.

I extend my thanks to Keri and Michelle for their willingness to take on interim leadership duties in addition to their current roles.

Congratulations to Keri and Michelle on their interim roles.

Best regards,

Mark A. Mone, PhD
Chancellor